Equal opportunities

The Richmondshire Leisure Trust follows an equal opportunities emplyment policy which is outlined fully below.

Our policy

This policy is intended to ensure that no job applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of:

Race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins
Sex, marital status or sexual orientation
Disability

or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements that cannot be shown to be justifiable. The Richmondshire Leisure Trust is committed not only to the letter of the law but also to the promotion of equality of opportunity.

The Richmondshire Leisure Trust will take all necessary action to see that the policy is fully effective and in particular undertakes to:

Ensure that all Trust employees are aware of the policy
Ensure that all job applicants are aware of the policy
Give guidance on the law and on this policy to those who make employment decisions

In the cases of categories (1) and (2), the Richmondshire Leisure Trust also undertakes to:

Monitor the policy to make sure that it is working in practice, including examining how the workforce is made up and analysing the progress of job applicants and employees according to ethnic origin and sex
Examine and regularly review recruitment and selection methods to ensure that they are not discriminatory
Treat deliberate acts of unlawful discrimination as a disciplinary offence

The Richmondshire Leisure Trusts general employment policies and practice apply to disabled people. In particular, however, the following is a statement of the Richmondshire Leisure Trust's policy in relation to people who qualify as being disabled under the provision of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

The Richmondshire Leisure Trust welcomes applications from disabled people for vacancies, and all disabled applicants will be given full and fair consideration. Their abilities will be assessed at the level which might be achieved after the introduction of reasonable adjustments.
Reasonable adjustments may include such things as alterations to job descriptions, working times, physical alteration of the work place, introduction of special equipment etc.
Disabled people who apply for advertised vacancies will be interviewed if their applications for specific posts meet all essential requirements. These requirements will be assessed at a level which might be attained after the Richmondshire Leisure Trust has given consideration as to what reasonable adjustments might be made to help the disabled applicant carry out the duties of the post. It may be necessary to consult with applicants to obtain information about the disability to ensure that they are given a fair interview.
Disabled employees will be afforded equal opportunities for in-house and external training, in accordance with the Richmondshire Leisure Trusts Training Programmes. Disabled employees will be assessed for training at a level which would be achieved by the introduction of reasonable adjustments.
The Richmondshire Leisure Trust will endeavour to retain existing employees who become disabled, or whose disability deteriorates.
Such employees will be consulted about their situation, and their wishes, abilities and any alternative job opportunities will be discussed prior to any action being taken.

Taking into consideration employees' wishes, the following procedure will normally apply:

Initially, efforts will be made to retain employees in their existing posts, possibly with small changes in job descriptions.
Reasonable adjustments will be made to assist disabled employees, including the provision of special equipment, adaptation of the work environment, alteration to working times.
Where it is not possible for disabled employees to remain in their posts, redeployment opportunities will be investigated. Reasonable adjustments will be considered to allow the disabled person to carry out the duties of the new post.